BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 666
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 666 (Jeffries) - As Amended: March 8, 2011
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 9-0
E.S.&T.M. 8-0
(Consent)
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the State Public Works Board (PWB) to
acquire 30 acres of land in Riverside County from the Jurupa
Area Recreation and Park District, and requires the PWB to
transfer this property to the Department of Toxics Substances
Control (DTSC) in conjunction with the department's management
of the Stringfellow Acid Pits Containment Site.
FISCAL EFFECT
No additional state costs as this transfer is currently in
process.
Department of General Services staff, in conjunction with DTSC,
is performing the necessary real estate functions (reviewing
titles, CEQA, land agreements, legal documents, Brownfield
documents, cost analysis etc.) to accept the Stringfellow
property gift offer. The administrative process for the
transfer, with final approval by the PWB, appears on track to be
completed this July.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author's office, "The Stringfellow
Acid Pits is a project under DTSC where they have taken legal
responsibility to clean up a former toxic disposal site in the
Jurupa Mountains in Riverside County. The DTSC currently owns
only a portion of the land for which is it responsible, and
they operate on lands which they have no legal right to be on.
AB 666
Page 2
The Jurupa Area Parks and Recreation District is currently
purchasing a �162-acre] parcel of land which includes 30 acres
which have been contaminated and where DTSC currently
operates. The Jurupa Parks District has no interest in
keeping this land and wants to gift it to the State for DTSC's
uses?"
2)Background . The Stringfellow Superfund site, also known as the
Stringfellow Acid Pits, is located in Pyrite Canyon, near the
community of Glen Avon. Originally operated by the
Stringfellow Quarry Company as a rock quarry, the 17-acre site
was operated as a hazardous waste facility from 1956 until
1972 under the name of the Stringfellow Hazardous Waste
Facility. During this time, more than 34 million gallons of
liquid industrial waste, primarily from metal finishing,
electroplating, and pesticide production, were deposited in
unlined evaporation ponds on the Site. Over time, these ponds
overflowed and contaminated the nearby Pyrite Creek, and
contaminants from the Site have migrated into Glen Avon area
groundwater, preventing the use of private drinking water
supply wells.
The Stringfellow Hazardous Waste Facility was one of the first
sites listed on the Superfund National Priorities List. After
years of complicated litigation, the State of California was
ultimately named as the 100% responsible party. The DTSC has
been designated as the lead agency and is conducting
remediation of the site under the direction of U.S. EPA.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081